China Accounts For Half Global Blockchain Patent Applications

Since 2009, there have been approximately 3,500 patent families related to blockchains worldwide, and more than 5,000 patent applications. China accounts for half.

The patents related to the blockchain field were mainly applied in the past two years. Since 2015, the number of patent applications in the blockchain field has risen sharply. In 2016, the number of applications was close to 1,200. In 2017, there were still a large number of patent applications, more than 1,400 pieces. The forecast can only be that this figure will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.

These patent applicants have complex backgrounds, ranging from IBM, Intel, and Alibaba, the data processing giants, to financial institutions such as Bank of America and Mastercard, and to emerging blockchain companies such as Nchian and Coinplug. The background of these applicants also fully reflects the characteristics of blockchain technology, involving cryptography, data processing, finance, computer systems and other fields. The figure below shows the number of patents for major patent applicants in the global blockchain.

In general, Chinese companies have applied for a lot of patents in the blockchain field, but most of the patents have been applied in the past two years, and the patent applications are often limited to China.

The major countries in blockchain applications include China, the United States, South Korea, and Japan, with China growing most rapidly.

China’s patent applications in the blockchain sector account for about half of the world’s total. The current number of applications is about 2,700, followed by the United States, and more than 900 patent applications. However, most of China’s patents are filed in 2016 and 2017, and there are fewer authorized patents. The US patent application time is relatively early, and there are more patents granted.

Blockchain is the underlying technology of Bitcoin. Bitcoin uses the elliptic curve algorithm in cryptography to generate public and private keys. The hash algorithm guarantees the integrity of transaction data. The distributed computer system architecture stores transaction history. Existing areas. The core patents in the blockchain are also basically concentrated in the relevant technology modules.

It is worth mentioning that the blockchain technology was produced in 2008, but its technology based on cryptography, data processing, and distributed computer system architecture has long been available. Traditional technology companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and Certicom have applied for a large number of patents in these fields and have been deployed globally, which deserves industry attention.